Phrases related to time - Vol.

1 Compiled by Om Prakash Yadav (sw=somewhere, sb = somebody, sth = something) At the earliest most often For a period not more than six months
With the time running out Be behind schedule By mid-April The due date for the item to reach Mr. X is

Earlier in the week Late into the night Everyday Every evening Every morning and night

Be long overdue At the end of the next week From the get-go (=from the beginning) From next year onwards Be in force from April 2014 On the second day of the competition For more than two months now In a short span of time It is still premature to predict whether Repeatedly through the night Slim possibility Halfway between gone in a flash At least half a dozen times on each successive day
for the third consecutive year

for nine consecutive days

In the next morning For three days in succession

do something in a jiffy = do it very quickly or very soon

Swiftly = in a jiffy very shortly much later a delay in disbursal of government grants for a brief period be happier than ever Be in ones late twenties Delay, defer and ultimately shelve decisions A day later Later on
At last

For months

Do sth at least every three months At the shortest possible time A substantial amount of time After a week of persistence Most of the day On the first day At this point of time Much like her/his/their past Within one month from the date of the order Less than a month Hitherto = so far, till now First of all For so long A few days later In July, 2013 On July 3, 2013

on the night of May31

Years ago At present After a few days of uncertainty From time to time On Saturday At 8.30 p.m. In the past three years For a set period of time In the next few days as often as possible in 12 days flat in ten seconds/minutes flat as quickly as possible after a moment not less than 15 days ago

even today in the last years yet another time for a long time not.till now until the next morning on time in late afternoon until evening no longer
at that time

(The speech lasted) nearly one hour.

during the afternoon on the first Saturday of the month on Sundays ..until the day he died

Thomas Edison slept only four hours a night throughout the major portion of his life. every night of the week in no time at all
Just in time

for most of the day At these times Even now Even then Once in a while For a long time For almost four years now The last one-and-a-half months From May to October On most of the days Meanwhile For more than 10 hours a day earlier By the middle of 2002

for nearly three weeks for nearly 5 years in the past five decades in the same period last year in almost three-and-a-half months

every couple of years

once in three months within two years in the wee hours of Tuesday before the end of the year

Since Sunday night we havent slept.

Since then Not .until about 12 weeks of age At least for the moment Until a few years ago Shortly In the first week of August During the feudal days It was the Chancellors idea that the two meetings be held at the same time and in tandem.
almost simultaneously

The negotiations are expected to last over 18 months. .comes at a time when . .till the end of the Sabarimala season A couple of months ahead of sth
whenever possible On a regular basis
Look out for the book, which will be in the shops from the end of the month.

on each time a month before sth/an event

often enough

(do sth) from scratch

do something from scratch = do it without making use of anything that has been done before

This time around In the late 1960s

In the early 1950s In the mid-1950s In the off-peak hours from 9.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m. Charge sth at twice the rate Over the next 15 minutes Not now. Not ever! March ones children out to paparazzi tunes during media-dry spells For a good long while Once upon a time At sunrise At such times At any time At all times Very many times So many times For the past several decades Frequently Daily Not long before During sunrise and sunset hours

Visit/go sw on a rotation basis every three months

round the clock very often quite a long gap

from start to finish at the beginning of a programme by the end of this year ..for as long as you like. ..until next Saturday Sometime later By this time next year Fail ones driving test for the third time Not tolerate sbs bad behaviour any more At a time of economic uncertainty Your time is up After a certain period of time upgrade your equipment fairly regularly

avoid next time on different days in June unimaginable years ago

an allotted period is run out time is running short over some weeks and yet again In the middle of the night right now At a young age A few times from the start, Meanwhile, Immediately From soup to nuts = from beginning to end Just now Yesterday afternoon Today afternoon Tomorrow afternoon Work 24x7 Most of the time On a full-time basis Your planes due to take off in just under 20 minutes. Arrange the meeting for 3:30 By 5.30 at the latest

Never..for too long Each day he wades through lengthy court reports. Officially launch sth at the start of next month Will be contacted later today Will be contacted/released later in the week Have been enquiring about sth all morning In just a few months Repeat sth over and over again Once a day Twice a day Thrice a day Set up a meeting for March I started it a short time before now. A short time ago in recent years. Hitherto = up to this time in the middle decades of the eighteenth century in due course = at some time in the future when it is the right time, but not before: Further details will be announced in due course.
insofar
/ nsf $ -fr / adverb
FAR
1

in so far as at

( 20 )

So far = thus far = until now

Until the end of the week

on a Thursday evening at several times as often as as long as over the past eight years on the same day by the end of the day by teatime the next couple of weeks talk about sth for a little while a bit earlier

day and night have a really bad hair day for a short time sometimes a couple days a week for years within thirty days every other day/week/month this weekend more often every alternate Wednesday a month in advance only once almost every day in the future in the near future all of a sudden
five evenings a week

as often as I can from the beginning of next month for the first time

a hundred times ever since from start to finish at the beginning of a programme by the end of this year ..for as long as you like. ..until next Saturday Sometime later By this time next year Fail ones driving test for the third time Not tolerate sbs bad behaviour any more At a time of economic uncertainty Your time is up
a lot of times

After a certain period of time

All too often

Spend much of ones working life doing sth

Use sth/sb rarely, if ever, for a particular purpose

If something happens on alternate days, it happens every second day

Private cars are banned from the city on alternate days.

If sth happens on alternate days, nights, etc. it happens on one day, etc. but not on the next John has to work on alternate Sundays. The ferry service will initially run on alternate days, increasing eventually to daily sailings.
If something happens on alternate days, weeks etc, it happens on one day etc and not the next, and continues in this pattern every other

alternate Mondays/weekends etc The service runs on alternate days.

Do sth

more often than sb else at one time or another, for the time being

REGISTER
In everyday English, instead of alternate days/Fridays/weeks etc, people usually use the phrase every other day/Friday/week etc: We meet on alternate Saturdays. We meet every other Saturday.

the alternation of day and night

INTERMINABLY interminable

/- -/ adjective

continuing for too long and therefore boring or annoying an interminable delay his interminable stories

soon S1 W1 / sun / adverb ( comparative sooner , superlative soonest )

1 in a short time from now, or a short time after something else happens : It will be dark soon. David arrived sooner than I expected. soon after Paula became pregnant soon after they were married. Who? Youll find out soon enough (= fairly soon ) . 2 quickly : How soon can you finish the report? Try and get the car fixed as soon as possible . 3 as soon as immediately after something happens, without delay : As soon as she entered the room, she knew there was something wrong. Ill come over to your place as soon as I can.

4 the sooner ( ... ) the better used to say that it is important that something should happen very soon : The sooner we get this job finished the better. Lets get out of here! The sooner the better! 5 the sooner ... the sooner used to say that you want something to happen soon, so that something else can then happen : The sooner I get this work done, the sooner I can go home. 6 no sooner had/did ... than used to say that something happened almost immediately after something else : No sooner had he sat down than the phone rang. 7 sooner or later used to say that something is certain to happen at some time in the future, though you cannot be sure exactly when : His wifes bound to find out sooner or later. 8 too soon too early too soon to do something Its still too soon to say whether the operation was a success. The holidays were over all too soon (= much earlier than you would like ) . 9 no sooner said than done used to say that you will do something immediately 10 not a moment too soon/none too soon almost too late : The doctors here! And not a moment too soon! 11 somebody would sooner do something (than) if you would sooner do something, you would much prefer to do it, especially instead of something that seems unpleasant : Id sooner die than marry you! 12 somebody would (just) as soon formal used to say that someone would prefer to do something or would prefer something to happen : Id just as soon you didnt drive the car while Im gone.

THESAURUS
soon in a short time from now, or a short time after something else happens : See you soon! | It seemed difficult at first, but I soon got used to it. in the near future in the next few weeks or months. In the near future is more formal than soon : The book will be on sale in the near future. in no time (at all) very soon used to talk about something good happening : Youll be feeling better in no time at all. | In no time at all, her son was starting to speak Japanese. in a minute spoken used to say that you will do something or something will happen within a few minutes : Ill be ready in a minute. | The films going to start in a minute. any minute now spoken used to say that something will or may happen very soon, but you do not know exactly when : They should be here any minute now.

any day now spoken used to say that something will or may happen in the next few days, but you do not know exactly when : Im hoping to hear from her any day now. shortly formal a short time from now : They will be with us shortly. | the new laws that will shortly be coming into effect before long especially literary soon used especially when something happens which you expected to happen : They got married, and before long Anna was expecting a baby. it will not be long used when saying that something will happen soon : It wont be long before everything is back to normal. | I knew that it wouldnt be long before the same thing happened again.

soon
BrE / sun / NAmE / sun /
adverb
WORD ORIGIN GRAMMAR POINT

( soon er , soon est ) 1 in a short time from now; a short time after sth else has happened We'll be home soon./We'll soon be home. She sold the house soon after her husband died. I soon realized the mistake. It soon became clear that the programme was a failure.

( informal ) See you soon ! 2 early; quickly How soon can you get here? We'll deliver the goods as soon as we can. Please send it as soon as possible . Next Monday is the soonest we can deliver. They arrived home sooner than expected. The sooner we set off, the sooner we will arrive. The note said, Call Bill soonest (= as soon as possible) . All too soon the party was over. see also asap no sooner said than done

used to say that sth was, or will be, done immediately no sooner than used to say that sth happens immediately after sth else No sooner had she said it than she burst into tears. the sooner the better very soon; as soon as possible When shall I tell him? The sooner the better. sooner or later at some time in the future, even if you are not sure exactly when Sooner or later you will have to make a decision. sooner rather than later after a short time rather than after a long time We urged them to sort out the problem sooner rather than later. I, etc. would sooner do sth (than sth else) to prefer to do sth (than do sth else) She'd sooner share a house with other students than live at home with her parents. more at anytime soon at any time , I, etc. would just as soon do sth at just adv. , least said soonest mended at say v.

our more than 40 years of doing this/that work More often than not
more often than not = most of the time More often than not, a student will come up with the right answer.

as often as not ( ALSO more often than not ) usually As often as not when I make the effort to visit her, I wonder why I've even bothered. In ones (very rare) spare time
your first day at work

at daylight

Shortly afterwards,

Eventually

In the meantime, Over the same period, Immediately after sth for no more than a handful of months

in our time
in the early days of my business every minute of your/my day in the early years do many things at one time give this amount of time to your business rent sth by the hour or by the day to help you with this certain project only a small amount of time for more than forty years too often most often

for that length of time